Let The Games Begin
by OfficialBarbie
Summary: Playing a game with the Marauders was a bad idea. Especially as it results in lies and secret snogs. Even worse when it lasts all year. I'm Lily Evans, I'm supposed to be the smart one!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Lily Evans flopped onto her four poster bed in the beloved Gryffindor girls' dormitory. She felt stuffed from the start of year feast – which always reminded her of how much she missed the food when she was at home. This last summer had been the worst in her life. She's been used to being well liked and constantly surrounded with friends – before she knew she was a witch, she was adored in her hometown. Even here, at Hogwarts, she was the nice girl, the prefect who was called a teacher's pet. Oh, she was teased. But not meanly and she definitely had friends.

But being absent from Muggle school had sort of put a downer on her popularity with them. It had never mattered much before, her and Severus would amuse themselves. They had spent countless hours talking, practising spells and genuinely having fun every summer. It was magical.

This past summer was different though, as she still wasn't talking to her former best friend. She'd spent the summer with her parents, doing homework and stuck in the house. Petunia – she thought with a pang, Tuney – had been with her new boyfriend and her group of friends every day. Even when she was at home, she never talked to Lily when it wasn't necessary and she'd never invited Lily to come out.

Once or twice she'd seen Severus and he'd waved with a little smile. She'd just replayed the events from their fifth year in her mind and turned away. As she got lonelier, it was harder to turn away. She knew they'd be having so much fun if they were still friends.

"Lily!" A voice brought her back to present.

She shook herself for daydreaming so completely and concentrated on, one of her roommates, Amelia's voice.

"Sorry?"

"Which boy are you claiming in pick a boy? It's your term for first pick!" That was Jenny.

Ever since the third year, when Amelia and Katy had liked and went after the same boy, her roommates had come up with a strategy. At the start of each term, the girls would each claim a boy and the others weren't allowed to touch him – well, not literally. It was so they didn't have as many arguments.

It'd always seemed very stupid to Lily, though. It was hardly the way to go about getting a boyfriend. You didn't claim boys like they were dress robes in the sale.

_But then, what would you know,_ she thought darkly. _You've never even been kissed. _

She felt embarrassed as she thought this. Sure, it was true but still. She'd never breathed that little fact to another soul. Well, she hadn't told anyone she'd been kissed but the implications had been there when questions were asked.

Was that a horrid thing to do? Almost lie to your friends!

I'll think about it later, she promised herself and focused again on the conversation.

All her dorm mates were staring at her. She hoped it'd appeared as if she'd been thinking. "Do I have to pick someone?" She asked slowly and deliberately.

Victoria sighed, "I told you she'd say that!"

Jenny turned and looked at Lily for a moment. Jenny was a bold girl, and Lily probably liked her best out of all the girls in her dorm. Although, she was very unlike Lily. Jenny had dark hair, big eyes and striking features. She'd also had a crush on one Sirius Black for over a year now.

"What is it with you, Lily?" She asked quietly. "You're really pretty, and I know loads of boys that like you. A certain Gryffindor Seeker included," She dropped a wink. "But you don't seem at all interested in boys! Girls would kill to have James and Ryan want them!"

Lily blushed, she couldn't help it. Ryan Dallas was Ravenclaw Quidditch captain and a seventh year. "Ryan doesn't fancy me, don't be absurd!"

Katy giggled, her girlish voice was high, "But you didn't deny James does!"

"Well, he said as much before summer when..." Lily suddenly cut off. She didn't need to continue. "But it was obviously nothing serious, and I'll bet he'll be snogging someone next time we see him!"

The girls didn't look convinced, and Jenny continued, "Whatever. I think they both like you. Not to mention that vile Slytherin."

Once upon a time, Lily would've insisted that he was lovely. But she didn't see the point, and besides, she didn't really want to.

Tori, who killed you if you called her Victoria, laughed openly at this.

"You have to pick," Amelia chipped in. "Even if you don't do anything with him, you need to pick!"

Lily saw no easy way out of this without picking and sighed.

Let's see, there's James... he certainly was good looking. As Jenny had said, most girls would love him and Ryan to fancy them. She could claim one of them. But if it was true that they had a soft spot for her, they might be encouraged to hear that Lily had chosen them. That truly was the last thing she wanted. There was Sirius... now, even Lily knew that he was handsome. But he seemed like such a troublemaker and he was so vain! Not that James wasn't either. And if James did really fancy her, she wouldn't want to start anything between the best friends...

Plus, whatever the girls said about claims, Jenny would be furious if Lily took Sirius.

That left only one fair choice.

She looked up at her friends and said clearly, "Remus."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

James sat up and looked around his quiet dormitory. It was full of sixth year Gryffindor boys so it was rarely ever quiet. He laid back on his pillows and smiled. He was back at Hogwarts, him and Sirius were planning a prank for the new school year and Quidditch practise starts on Saturday. Everything felt right.

Except Lily, a nagging voice said at the back of his head. Why didn't she like him? Well, she told him as much when he pulled that prank on Snivellus during their O.W.L's.

But surely it would be different now, he smirked to himself. He was annoyed at Snivellus for calling _his _girl a Mudblood. He'd make sure Snivellus paid for that one. There was one good thing that would come out of that event though. Those two were no longer friends, so surely it wouldn't make Lily angry to see Snivellus be the subject of a prank. Hopefully she'd be the opposite.

As he got out of bed, and wandered to the bathroom that he and his three friends shared, he wondered when she'd come around. Surely she would. They were meant to be together, everyone knew that!

Lily and James, the smirk was back. She'd be his girlfriend. All he had to do was wait for her to come around. He jumped into the shower before his fellow Marauders woke up.

"Oi, Padfoot, hurry up!" Remus called in the direct of the bathroom. Apart from Sirius, all of the boys were dressed and ready to go to breakfast.

James wasn't a very patient person and had forgotten how long Sirius took in the bathroom. When they'd stay at the Potter house over the summer together, they'd each had their own bathroom. Now that they were back at Hogwarts, James felt thankful that Sirius had woken up last this morning and hoped it'd stay that way.

He pushed open the door, hoping Sirius was dressed. As it was, he was standing in front of the mirror, checking his hair.

James laughed, "Come on, you vain git, let's go."

So with a sigh from Sirius, they made their way down to breakfast.

As they settled in the great hall, James immediately looked for Lily. When he realised she wasn't there, he returned his gaze to his friends. Sirius gave him a knowing look but made no comment.

"What are we doing tonight then?" James started, looking at Peter and Remus.

Remus shrugged, "Surely you don't have plans yet, Prongs?"

"I just love a back to school party," He offered as an explanation.

For the remainder of breakfast, they came up with a plan for their party. They'd host it on the Quidditch pitch – they got away with that last time.

"Alright, spread the word thorough your lessons, boys. But make sure it doesn't reach any teachers," Sirius warned.

James rolled his eyes, "Do you think we're stupid?"

It was so quick that only James noticed it, Sirius' eyes darted to Peter and back again. James bit back a laugh.

"Alright, alright," Remus said.

The bell for their first lesson went shortly after that.

"What lesson you got, Prongs?" Remus said.

"Potions with Slughorn," He sighed.

"Me too," Sirius chipped in. They grinned to each other and begun walking towards the dungeons.

"Still got your eye on Evans?"

James nodded.

"Don't worry, mate. You'll get her."

Grinning at that, he walked into the classroom.

"Sir, could I have a new seat?" He heard as soon as he was in earshot. Slyly, he looked over to see Lily talking to Slughorn.

"Oh, I don't know, Lily..."

"You can sit with me, Evans," James smirked as he took his seat.

She smirked, "I'll be okay, thanks for the concern, Potter."

A snigger from behind caused both James and Lily to turn. Directly behind, old Snivellus sat. He looked pleased at Lily's answer.

"You know, Potter, I'll take you up on that."

He looked at her, surprised. It seems she was trying to spite Snivellus. Well, that was fine with him. He was pissing off Snivellus and sitting with Lily. That's hitting two birds with one stone, he thought smugly.

"Hey, here's an idea, Snivellus! There's this new thing, called Shampoo! Try some of that and Evans might give you a chance," Sirius said from somewhere behind.

James laughed openly, along with others, as he turned back to look at his best friend.

Halfway through the lesson, he decided to go for it. He turned to Lily. "Hey Evans, there's a party on the Quidditch pitch tonight. You in?"

Before she made a reply, Snivellus gave a snotty laugh, "You'll have to do better than that, Potter."

Before he could come up with a witty remark, Lily replied, "Sure, why not?" After glaring at Snivellus, she went to get more Ingredients.

James turned towards him and smirked, "Thanks for that, Snivellus. I should make sure you're around when I ask her out in the future, as an alternative, you see. With you in comparison, I don't think she'll ever say no again."

"I wouldn't be so certain, Potter. She thinks you're an arrogant toerag-"

"And she knows you're a vile Slytherin who called her a Mudblood..."

He could literally see the other boy fuming at this point.

About ten minutes later, the bell rang. He turned to Lily and handed her a piece of paper, "Here, Evans. About the party tonight."

She nodded in acknowledgement and took it from him.

"See ya, Evans!" He yelled as Sirius dragged him out of the classroom.

She almost smiled, he thought with satisfaction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to TheOneBehindItAll and thebiggestpotterfreak for reviewing the last chapter (: I love reviews! **

Chapter 3:

After the first day of lessons, most students were either annoyed at the homework load, excited for the party or exhausted from the work. Lily Potter was positively beaming. While other students may go on about her being a teacher's pet, she didn't care. She missed magic so much over the summer and she was glad to be back in her usual routine.

"Lily!" Jenny came straight up to her when Lily had claimed the best spot in the Gryffindor common room.

"What, Jen?"

"I heard you finally accepted a date to Hogsmeade from none other than James Potter!" She winked.

_I should've known something like this would happen_, she thought to himself in a dry tone. "No, Jenny. He just told me about the start-of-term party on the Quidditch pitch tonight and I said I'd go," She yawned. "I'm kind of tired though, so I might not."

"You have to," Jenny said seriously. She had the expression that Lily dreaded, that meant Lily was going to the party whether she liked it or not.

James sat with his back to the door after classes, with Remus and Sirius up in their dorm.

"Alcohol?" He asked his friends.

"Already taken care of," Sirius said swiftly.

"How?" Remus put in.

"Never you mind, Moony."

The others thought it better not to question Sirius on his reliable ways to get them booze.

A kick at the door told James to move out the way in time for Peter to hurry in.

Looking slightly out of breath, Peter sat on his bed with an excited expression on his face.

"Spit it out, Peter. Before you wet yourself," Sirius said from his own bed.

Going red in the cheeks, Peter said, "You know the sixth year Gryffindor girls?"

James looked up, interested.

"I found out who chose who in that claim a boy thing that they do," He said in a rush.

"Why do you care?" Sirius said at the same time as Remus said, "Who chose whom, Peter."

James rolled his eyes at Remus correcting Peter's grammar.

"I-I'm just curious..." Peter defended himself.

"We know you fancy the pants off Tori Kingsley, mate," James said with a smirk.

Peter was almost as red as the Gryffindor bed sheets at this point.

Quickly, to spare Peter, Remus said, "So who did they choose?"

"Katy Benn chose Diggory in Hufflepuff, that Jennifer girl chose you Sirius," Peter started.

James looked at Sirius who had sighed. "She's pretty, you know," James pointed out.

"Yeah, she is," He admitted. "But not my type."

"Amelia Ryan chose Markson in seventh year," He paused.

"What about Kingsley and Evans, then?" Sirius asked.

Peter decided to go with the safe option of embarrassing himself instead of the shock of Evans' choice. "Tori chose David Jordan in Ravenclaw," He said sadly.

The room was quiet as they waited for him to continue.

"And what about Evans?" James said bitterly.

"I-I don't want to s-say," Peter didn't dare look at James.

"If it's old Snivellus, just tell me," He sighed.

"It's not."

Sirius was quite curious now, despite himself and even Remus looked up from his book.

"Go on," Sirius urged. "Tell us, Wormtail."

"Its R-Remus," Peter squealed after another moment of silence.

All the boys looked at the rather shocked Remus Lupin for a second before James stood and shouted, "What?"

Back in the girls' dormitory, they were all getting ready for the party that night, even Lily.

"What top shall I wear?" Tori said, holding two different tops, as she stood on her bed in just her underwear.

"The white one," Katy commented while she charmed her hair into curls.

Amelia's gorgeous brown locks were piled on top of her hand and she stood wearing tracksuit bottoms and a bra. Regardless of that, the expression on her face made her simply terrifying as she stared at Jenny, who was holding a bottle in her head.

"Give me that hair sleeking potion now, Jennifer," She said slowly.

Lily laughed, "You better give it to her, Jen."

But Jenny wasn't giving up without a fight, "Never!" She screamed and jumped onto her own bed while unscrewing the lid.

"There's only enough left for one!" Amelia yelled as she chased her friend.

"That's why I need it!"

The other three girls watched with amusement as Amelia and Jenny fought over the bottle.

But as Amelia tried to take it from Jenny, the bottle slipped and the remaining contents spilt onto the bed.

"No!"

"Oh my god!"

Lily rolled over laughing, she couldn't help it. The looks on their faces as they stared down at the duvet made it looked like someone had _died_!

"Lily!" Jenny screamed, seeing her friend giggling.

The next thirty minutes were torture as Katy tried to do both girls' hair with her wand. Her mother was a Wizarding hair dresser, so she had picked up a thing or two.

Lily hated to say it, she really did. It made her sound like such a typical teenage girl – the last thing she wanted to be. But she had to. So she whined to her friends, "I have nothing to wear!"

"I'll help," Tori smiled. "But you have to trust me and wear whatever I say, okay?"

"Well..."

"Lily Katherine Evans!"

"Alright, alright," Lily sighed.

The other girl smirked and started going through her wardrobe.

A few minutes later, she straightened up and held a dress out to Lily.

"Oh no!"

"Oh _yes_," Tori said with an evil grin.

Half an hour later, Lily stood in the dorm, nervous for the party. Usually she wasn't the type to get nervous over parties and things, but tonight was different. Lily _looked_ different.

She looked gorgeous, her friends had assured her. But she wasn't worried about that; she was worried about people's reactions.

Her red hair was in looser curls than usual, her green eyes rimmed in black eyeliner. Tori hadn't put much make-up on her, but what she did made a big difference to Lily. Her eyes looked bigger, her lips were slightly more coloured and her cheekbones were defined.

Besides her hair and make-up, the dress was nothing that Lily would have picked for herself. She felt rather uncomfortable with her legs bared and cleavage showing. But there was no changing Tori Kingsley's mind when it was made.

Lily looked in the full length mirror once more. The dress was very pretty, she had to admit. It was a gorgeous black mini-dress, it ended just a few inches below her waist and hugged her curves and made her chest look bigger than it actually was. As well as the dress, she wore black ankle boots with heels ("Heels, Tori! I can't walk in heels!"). Tori had bewitched the heels so Lily could actually walk in them, which she wouldn't have had a chance of doing if they hadn't been. Finally, a massive black bow had been placed in her flaming hair.

"Don't you think I look a bit... gothic?" She asked Tori uncertainly.

Amelia and Katy had already left, seeing as they couldn't go in a big group. Katy was wearing skin tight jeans and a _very_ small top that Lily mistook for a bra. Lily thought Amelia looked much classier, wearing a white dress that exaggerated her curves and complimented her dark skin tone.

Tori turned to her and scowled while Jenny said, "Honey, I don't think you could ever look gothic with that baby face and bright hair."

Tori herself looked like a supermodel; she had the blue eyed, blonde haired thing going on and was part Veela. Right now, she wore tiny shorts like were apparently called 'hot pants' and were in fashion, according to Tori. As well as them, she wore neon pink stiletto sandals and a white crop top with a peace sign on it. The peace sign was the exact pink as her shoes; they were so similar that she must have charmed them. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail and she looked really _fun_.

Jenny herself wasn't going to the party; she had suddenly felt ill but refused to go to Madam Pomfrey.

"You sure you're going to be alright?" Lily asked in concern.

"Yes, she'll be fine, Lils! Stop trying to find an excuse not to go to the party!" Tori said loudly.

"Good luck, bet James'll have a heart attack when he sees you," Jenny grinned.

Tori giggled, "Or a boner."

With Lily glaring and Tori giggling, they set off to the party.


End file.
